Boom!!!
The Lord of Hunger's lustful flames burned fiercely at the border of Nurgle's domain, their dazzling purple-red reaching between the dark green clouds. The plaguebearers lazily slumped their bodies, the nurgling's laughter turned into lewd songs, and the Nurgle Beasts felt the urge to mate.
The daemonette's horse-like face extended its tongue, striking at the plaguebearer's plague Blade. Succubi danced a beautiful dance of pleasure, clashing with the Death Guard. The music of the Infernal Enrapturess adorned the moment with wails and malicious tunes.
"Hounds of the Lord of Hunger."
The buzzing of the Destroyer Swarms drowned out Slaanesh's music, and the corrupted scythes tore through Slaanesh's lustful flames.
Typhus, clad in his heavy, shroud-like Terminator Power Armor, stood unmoving in Slaanesh's lustful flames, like a giant, bloated fly.
Psionic energy, a mix of alien and human bloodlines, overflowed, roaring as it repelled the Slaanesh daemons attempting to approach him. The blasphemous, body-corroding plague, mixed with the psionic energy, eroded the bodies of the Lord of Hunger's servants.
At the same time, the Blightlord Terminators following Typhus advanced, forming an iron wall between Nurgle's Garden and the invading Slaanesh daemonettes.
Mortarion's visit to the Garden at Nurgle's invitation and the Slaanesh daemons' sudden attack for unknown reasons left Typhus agitated.
His master-crafted Manreaper constantly swung, carving arcs of putrid air and harvesting the heads of those who tried to approach Nurgle's chosen.
But Typhus was not invincible. He quickly met his match.
A whip and an axe, one from above and one from below, struck at Typhus from two directions. Typhus hastily swung his scythe to block them.
A Slaanesh daemon Prince and a Slaanesh daemon stood before Typhus.
The slender, elegant Slaanesh daemon, appearing as a female, stood on the male Slaanesh daemon Prince's shoulder, the two appearing as one.
"Shalaxi Helbane!"
Typhus whispered the names of these two Slaanesh champions.
Shalaxi Helbane, the Slaanesh daemon, and the daemon Prince, Shalaxi Helbane, were companions serving the Lord of Hunger.
It was said that Shalaxi Helbane, as a daemon, fell in love with Shalaxi Helbane, a mortal. The two became a symbiotic entity and together received Slaanesh's blessings, becoming the blade of the Lord of Hunger.
The axe, the whip, and Typhus' Manreaper intertwined.
Relying on a thousand years of accumulated experience, Typhus fought both daemon champions simultaneously.
"Why do you invade Nurgle's domain? What is the Lord of Hunger's purpose?!"
A low roar emanated from the amplifier on Typhus' armor. Typhus was Nurgle's mouthpiece, his voice inherently imbued with Nurgle's blessings.
Traces of disease appeared on both Shalaxi Helbane, and their movements slowed slightly.
"Of course, it is to satisfy our Lord's desire," Shalaxi Helbane chuckled.
Behind them, lustful flames burned fiercely, and more Slaanesh daemons poured out from the border.
Typhus' expression was grim and troubled.
Although Jaghatai Khan had once mocked Mortarion during the Great Crusade, calling him the true master of the 14th Legion,
the Death Guard who truly followed Typhus were few.
Mortarion, regardless, was the liberator of Barbarus. That pale figure could command the loyalty of ninety-nine percent of the Barbarus-born Death Guard to the ends of the galaxy and time.
Most of the Death Guard around Typhus, and even those he himself had trained after the Great Heresy, were not only fewer in number but also of relatively poorer quality.
They simply could not stop such a large-scale Slaanesh daemon invasion.
Watching his subordinates die in Slaanesh's lustful flames, Typhus gritted his teeth, his heart bleeding.
He could only pray to Nurgle for aid to arrive more quickly.
Typhus glanced at the Great Maw Trees on the Garden's border, then bit his lip.
Under Shalaxi Helbane's bewildered gaze, Typhus abandoned them, raised his Manreaper high, and swung it down at the Great Maw Trees.
This was the fastest way Typhus could think of to summon aid.
"Calas Typhon?!"
The chief gardener, Slic Kox, roared from deep within Nurgle's Garden, shouting Typhus' childhood name:
"You dare chop my trees?!"
To Typhus' horror and delight, the giant snail, Maus, instantly appeared on the battlefield.
Chief Gardener Slic Kox, in a blink, severed the limbs and heads of seventy-seven Slaanesh daemons, leaving only their torsos on the ground.
Then, its scissors pointed at Typhus.
"Hahahahahaha!!!!"
Shalaxi Helbane raced through the forests of Nurgle's Garden, unable to suppress its joyful laughter.
Its plan was still so perfect, its actions still so elegant, and it would soon regain Slaanesh's favor.
Shalaxi Helbane, due to its poor performance during the last assault on Slaanesh's Six Rings by the Emperor, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and Khorne, had its head smashed by a hammer thrown by the Emperor's Iron General, sleeping through the entire war. As a result, it was punished by Slaanesh, confined to the most boring Palace of Penance, and neglected.
But Shalaxi Helbane was always good at seizing opportunities to regain favor. It had heard the Lord of Hunger's whispers these past few days:
"Is this soup just for Nurgle, or do my other sisters get some too?"
"I really want to taste that rich soup."
"You know I am the most excellent gourmet, yet you are unwilling to offer me the rich soup?"
"Not offering it to me is one thing, but giving it to that green fatty?"
Shalaxi Helbane sensed the Lord of Hunger's emotions.
The Lord of Hunger yearned to mate with the being named Alexander, desiring to devour its every essence.
At the same time, as the Lord of Pleasure, Slaanesh always craved delicacies that brought extreme stimulation. It yearned to taste that seemingly delicious rich soup.
Furthermore, there was the Lord of Hunger's intense jealousy. It would not allow others to have something it did not.
Shalaxi Helbane thus knew its chance had come. As long as it obtained that pot of rich soup brewed by Alexander, it could regain the Lord of Hunger's favor.
For this, Shalaxi Helbane paid a considerable price, colluding with a host of Slaanesh daemonette legions to launch a surprise attack on Nurgle's Garden.
It certainly didn't expect to truly infiltrate the Garden. It hoped that the other side could tie down Typhus and Chief Gardener Slic Kox.
As for the rest, Ku'gath was engrossed in brewing its plagues, rarely active in Nurgle's Garden.
The other Great Unclean Ones, even the Rainfather, were no match for it. If it were just one, Shalaxi Helbane could quickly deal with it.
As for Mortarion, that gloomy and boring Primarch always holed up on the plague Planet, researching his numerology and planning how to cause trouble for Guilliman, rarely coming to the plague Garden.
Shalaxi Helbane soon saw the six Great Maw Trees sealing Alexander's rich soup.
Originally there were seven; Nurgle had drunk one, leaving six.
This precisely indicated that one would belong to the Lord of Hunger!
Shalaxi Helbane couldn't help but feel excited, extending its blade to cut down these six Great Maw Trees.
"Shalaxi Helbane, Chief Greater Daemon of Slaanesh."
A cold and withered voice sounded behind Shalaxi Helbane. The voice calmly questioned:
"What do you intend to do here?"
"I intend to—huh?" Shalaxi Helbane turned its head in confusion, looking behind it.
Pale scales rained down like powder, and gloomy moth wings spread out from beneath the corrupted sky, covering the ground like dark clouds.
Icy eyes under a hood stared at Shalaxi Helbane, a death-like scythe hanging low in mid-air, as if waiting to harvest Shalaxi Helbane's life.
"Unwilling to speak? No matter, numerology has revealed your purpose and concealment to me."
"Mo-Mo-Mortarion," Shalaxi Helbane stammered, dumbfounded.
"Useless!!!"
"All of them are useless!!!"
Angry sulfurous fire roared in the Blood God's domain.
He roared, pounding the Brass Throne, looking at the eighty-seven Bloodthirsters He had solidified from the Warp's tides before Him.
Creating a daemon was a complex process.
Khorne needed to relinquish a small part of his power, enveloping the constantly surging tides of the Warp, shaping a series of fitting senses, existence, thoughts, and purposes, giving it individuality and consciousness to exist and act within the Warp, making it an independent entity.
This was the birth of a daemon.
The amount of power Khorne relinquished during this process determined how many senses, thoughts, emotions, and purposes the daemon He shaped contained. Generally, daemons that contained more were more powerful, with the Greater daemons at the top.
But the Warp tides were unpredictable; even the gods could not fully understand the emotions, thoughts, and purposes they contained.
Therefore, the Greater daemons created often had a random nature; even they varied in strength. Only the Greater daemons formed from the most excellent parts of emotions, thoughts, and senses could be worthy of the title of Chief.
Skarbrand, before rebelling against the Blood God, had always been a satisfactory tool for Khorne. But he ultimately betrayed Him, and it was a ridiculous betrayal, like a coward.
Angron was acceptable; although he could be defeated by Lorgar, he still possessed the level of a Chief Greater Daemon. Khorne had always used him carefully.
But Angron was gone! Angron had inexplicably vanished from this universe!
The Blood God had no choice but to continue His efforts to find a suitable, new Chief Greater Daemon.
His luck seemed to have been poor ever since He banished Skarbrand. The Blood God's domain contained tens of millions of Bloodthirsters He had shaped over the years, but most of them were not very good.
Let alone being able to serve as a Chief Greater Daemon, helping Him bring enough slaughter, or even claim a Primarch's skull.
The Blood God had no choice but to continue trying to shape new Greater daemons, but after expending much power, Khorne still had not obtained one that satisfied Him.
Not to mention one that could rival Tzeentch's two-headed bird; there wasn't even one that could rival that little slut Shalaxi Helbane.
After eighty-seven attempts, the Blood God finally decided to give up.
"Bring Skarbrand back to me!!!!!"
The roar echoed through the Brass Throne.